Complainant

Respondent

Parties

John Spillane

Mary and Declan Padden

Representatives

Represented himself

Did not attend the hearing

Act

Complaint Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 21 Equal Status Act, 2000

CA-00072666-001

21/06/2025

In August 2010, the complainant rented a house in County Mayo from the respondent.  The rent was €700 per month and the complainant paid a deposit of €650.  By March 2024, the complainant was in arrears of rent and owed the respondent €7,090.  Following a hearing at the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), an order in respect of the payment of arrears was issued to the complainant.  He was ordered to pay €300 per month in 23 consecutive instalments, followed by a final payment of €190 until the full amount was paid.  The complainant said that he managed to pay his rent and arrears for two months, but he couldn’t afford to continue. 

In September 2024, the complainant said that he decided to look for help with the rent.  In early October, he said that he completed an application for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and he gave Part B of the form to the respondent for completion.  The respondent didn’t return the completed form and his application for HAP wasn’t processed.

In December 2024, the complainant said that he was issued with an eviction notice and he agreed to vacate the property.  He was ordered to leave by January 6th 2025, but, because he had nowhere to go, he remained in the house.  Following another review by the RTB, the complainant agreed to leave the house on April 24th 2025 and the respondent agreed not to pursue him for arrears. 

The complainant’s case is that, in October 2024, rather than cooperating with his application for HAP, he was evicted from his rental accommodation.

On May 26th, 2025, the complainant sent a Form ES1 to the respondent, in which he set out the details of his complaint, and warned the respondent of his intention to initiate proceedings at the WRC.  He got no response to his ES1 and, on June 21st 2025, he submitted this complaint to the WRC.

A person alleging that they have been discriminated against in breach s.5 of the Equal Status Act 2000 (“the Act”), is generally expected to comply with two separate time limits.  The first, at s.21(2) provides that, within two months of the date on which the prohibited conduct is alleged to have occurred, a complainant must notify a respondent in writing and inform them of his or her intention to seek redress.  This is generally done using a “Form ES1” which has been developed by the WRC for the purpose of submitting the details of a complaint.  Section 21(3)(a) of the Act provides that, for reasonable cause, I may substitute the two-month time limit for four months.  I am also permitted, exceptionally, where I am “satisfied that it is fair and reasonable in the particular circumstances of the case to do so,” disapply the time limit entirely.

The alleged act of discrimination we are concerned about is the failure of the respondent to complete Part B of the HAP application form in October 2024.  When the complainant submitted the ES1 Form to the respondent on May 26th 2025, he did so five months after the alleged act of discrimination.

The second time limit is set out at section 21(6) of the Act and this provides that a complaint of discrimination may not be referred to the WRC more than six months after the most recent incident of alleged discrimination.  The complainant has also exceeded this time limit because he submitted this complaint to the WRC on June 21st 2025, eight months after the alleged incident of discrimination.

While I can accept that the complainant had a lot to contend with after October 2024, when he was seeking housing support, no exceptional circumstances existed that persuade me that I should dispense with the requirement to submit this complaint to the WRC within six months of the alleged discriminatory act.  Most people who submit complaints to the WRC have challenges to deal with but they manage to submit their complaints within the statutory time limit.  I can appreciate the difficulties faced by the complainant when he was issued with an eviction notice in January 2025, however, by that stage, the two-month time limit set out at s.21(2) of the Act had already expired.

I have concluded that the complainant has not established that there was a reasonable cause for his failure to submit an ES1 Form to the respondent within the two-month time limit specified at section 21(2)(a) of the Equal Status Act 2000.  I have also concluded that there was no reasonable cause for his failure to submit a complaint to the WRC within the six-month time limit which is specified at s.21(6)(b) of the Act.  I decide therefore, that his complaint is not well founded.

Time limit for submitting a complaint